terry_gardener
Veteran
- Location
- stockton on tees
why are people so stupid?
- Thread starter gavroche
- Start date
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gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
Its all good for the discussion MP 
...
I think your final line says it all....its an unecessary annoyance.
No more, no less...an annoyance.
People are finding different ways to deal with a potential problem, some are buying early, some will leave it later. As i said, no-one (unless they're really unlucky) will fail to get their petrol in the next week or so.
As for the resilience in the supply chain, well they've only got themselves to blame (oh and the supermarkets of course)...theyve created the system, not drivers, not the general public. Yes, we all probably benefit...but you can bet the companies benefit more than we do.
I say the supermarkets are partly to blame...apparently some years ago, there used to be circa 14K filling stations in this country. With the advent of supermarket stations, they've edged so many out there's only circa 8K stations now, further adding to the problem of availability of fuel.
I just dislike this term 'panicking'...i dont see anyone running round like headless chickens...'oh lordy, we're all fooked now
'...Rubbish. Some people are just thinking ahead, some doubtless for selfish reasons, but equally.....
IMO, what would be REALLY stupid would be to sit back and do nothing, then all panic at the last moment and grind to a standstill.....now that WOULD be stupid.
IF there's a strike, no-one knows how long it would last. As said, a tankfull last me 1.5 weeks maximum. Not to have a little contingency would be equally stupid, hence topping up, then keeping it topped up.
...I think your final line says it all....its an unecessary annoyance.
No more, no less...an annoyance.
People are finding different ways to deal with a potential problem, some are buying early, some will leave it later. As i said, no-one (unless they're really unlucky) will fail to get their petrol in the next week or so.
As for the resilience in the supply chain, well they've only got themselves to blame (oh and the supermarkets of course)...theyve created the system, not drivers, not the general public. Yes, we all probably benefit...but you can bet the companies benefit more than we do.
I say the supermarkets are partly to blame...apparently some years ago, there used to be circa 14K filling stations in this country. With the advent of supermarket stations, they've edged so many out there's only circa 8K stations now, further adding to the problem of availability of fuel.
I just dislike this term 'panicking'...i dont see anyone running round like headless chickens...'oh lordy, we're all fooked now
'...Rubbish. Some people are just thinking ahead, some doubtless for selfish reasons, but equally.....IMO, what would be REALLY stupid would be to sit back and do nothing, then all panic at the last moment and grind to a standstill.....now that WOULD be stupid.
IF there's a strike, no-one knows how long it would last. As said, a tankfull last me 1.5 weeks maximum. Not to have a little contingency would be equally stupid, hence topping up, then keeping it topped up.
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
[QUOTE 1787164, member: 9609"]If it was £10 a litre we would all still be queueing up to buy the stuff, there is no alternative, as a society we are totally addicted to the stuff, couldn't cope without it. You may think you are above that, but you're not, remove fossil fuels from the equation and there would be no bikes, or roads, or computers, in fact it wouldn't be long before we were swinging about in the trees and living in mud huts.[/quote]
I'm not sure why even a total breakdown in civilisation would require us to start swinging around in trees. Unless you're thinking of total flooding of the land, and not a pair of wellies surviving....
I'm not sure why even a total breakdown in civilisation would require us to start swinging around in trees. Unless you're thinking of total flooding of the land, and not a pair of wellies surviving....
Sheffield_Tiger
Legendary Member
It's panic buying.
It's an ordinary Thursday night, Tesco's garage is closed and cars are queuing to clear out Sainsburys. It's neither normal nor sensible, however a shortage now exists because it has been artificially created so people "have" to join in
It's an ordinary Thursday night, Tesco's garage is closed and cars are queuing to clear out Sainsburys. It's neither normal nor sensible, however a shortage now exists because it has been artificially created so people "have" to join in
OP
OP
gavroche
Getting old but not past it
- Location
- North Wales
[QUOTE 1787164, member: 9609"]If it was £10 a litre we would all still be queueing up to buy the stuff, there is no alternative, as a society we are totally addicted to the stuff, couldn't cope without it. You may think you are above that, but you're not, remove fossil fuels from the equation and there would be no bikes, or roads, or computers, in fact it wouldn't be long before we were swinging about in the trees and living in mud huts.[/quote]
The truth is that there are alternatives like hydrogen, electric, gas... but the trouble is that oil companies are not prepared to give up the golden goose and neither is the government so we are stuck with petrol.
The truth is that there are alternatives like hydrogen, electric, gas... but the trouble is that oil companies are not prepared to give up the golden goose and neither is the government so we are stuck with petrol.
derrick
The Glue that binds us together.
- Location
- On the edge of London
Got half a tank in the motor, it's been in there for three weeks and it will still be in there in three weeks time.
gbb
Squire
- Location
- Peterborough
You are right of course, i already knew that fact.
I normally put just enough in for the week. I dont have to waste any time thinking about whats likely to happen (or not). Fill it up for now...and forget it for now.
Its also occured to me that IF it became a longer strike, i'd eek out what i did have by extending the cycling part of my commute. (i drive 2/3 of the way, cycle 1/3)
I have some breathing space, i dont have to even think about it all for the next week, if i chose not to.
I know its irrational in a way...a tankful is a tankful. I was due (as many people are) to top up anyway...so i do it a little early and put in a bit more than normal...hardly earth shattering is it ??
pepecat
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Dodging the Buzes in Brum
I have a full tank. Got it sunday cos we ran out and generally do fill up completely rather than put a bit in here and there. We have to go to coventry on saturday (red cross thing), and i could do with using the car to get to work weds and thurs evening (late finish and i don't like going on the train that time of night), but apart from that, I don't need to use the car until after easter. So i'm not particularly bothered about the situation, but it does annoy me that people are going out buying when no strike has been announed, and even IF there is one, it won't be till after easter now anway, by which time all those panic buyers will need to fill up again and the whole thing will start over.
I heard on the radio this evening that the AA have calculated that the govt have gotten 38 million in extra fuel duty form people panic buying. Cyincal me wonders if this was a govt ploy to get in some extra revenue before the end of the financial year.......
I heard on the radio this evening that the AA have calculated that the govt have gotten 38 million in extra fuel duty form people panic buying. Cyincal me wonders if this was a govt ploy to get in some extra revenue before the end of the financial year.......
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
Odd. I work near two petrol stations, and passed another several times yesterday. I've not seen any abnormal queues.
LarryDuff
Guru
- Location
- Hillsborough Co Down
Certainly takes the new spotlight off tax increases for pensioners, tax decreases for millionaires and corrupt donations/dinners at number 10.
deptfordmarmoset
Full time tea drinker
- Location
- Armonmy Way
It looks like pig trough politics to me: get to the front of the queue and to hell with the runt without the readies behind you. There doesn't even have to be a real shortage to train people to respond. Even the non-acquisitive amongst us sense that in the event of a genuine shortage they will also lose out and so they're dragged to the pig trough. No one wants to be the runt.
This theory was formed earlier this week when a woman parked her car in front of me across the bike lane I was in. If she hadn't blocked access to the trough, other cars waiting to turn right into the petrol station would have forced their way in front.
This theory was formed earlier this week when a woman parked her car in front of me across the bike lane I was in. If she hadn't blocked access to the trough, other cars waiting to turn right into the petrol station would have forced their way in front.
Night Train
Maker of Things
- Location
- Greater Manchester
[QUOTE 1786505, member: 9609"]While sitting in the queue there was someone walking down the road with a wheelie bin, I thought surely not, and indeed they just continued past the garage. I wonder what is the maddest container anyone will try and fill up.[/quote]
I had a wheelie bin full of diesel once.
A lorry had stopped near my house with diesel running out of a damaged fuel tank. The driver was letting it run into the drains while he called the recovery services. I got him to catch it in a bucket and pour it in my wheelie bin to save the drains and the cobbled road.
It took a month for the council to come and take my bin of rubbish and 200l of diesel away for safety, they never returned it either.
I filled up, as normal, on Monday when my car only had a litre left in the tank. No queues, no fuss. The tank full will last me a six weeks or more, if Arch comes to Manchester over Easter.
I had a wheelie bin full of diesel once.
A lorry had stopped near my house with diesel running out of a damaged fuel tank. The driver was letting it run into the drains while he called the recovery services. I got him to catch it in a bucket and pour it in my wheelie bin to save the drains and the cobbled road.
It took a month for the council to come and take my bin of rubbish and 200l of diesel away for safety, they never returned it either.
I filled up, as normal, on Monday when my car only had a litre left in the tank. No queues, no fuss. The tank full will last me a six weeks or more, if Arch comes to Manchester over Easter.
asterix
Comrade Member
- Location
- Limoges or York
[QUOTE 1787608, member: 9609"]I was more thinking on the lines of; if there had never ever been any fossil fuels, would we have progressed much further than the bronze age, there's a limit to what we could have achieved with charcoal.
Humans have always been very resourceful and I am sure we would have progressed. But without that colossal inheritance of vast amounts of free energy in oil coal and gas I wonder if we would still be back in the 14th century.[/quote]
An interesting question but maybe the existence of earlier civilisations (Egyptian, Greek, Roman) demonstrates that we would have progressed. The main difference would perhaps be that the human world population would be far smaller.
Humans have always been very resourceful and I am sure we would have progressed. But without that colossal inheritance of vast amounts of free energy in oil coal and gas I wonder if we would still be back in the 14th century.[/quote]
An interesting question but maybe the existence of earlier civilisations (Egyptian, Greek, Roman) demonstrates that we would have progressed. The main difference would perhaps be that the human world population would be far smaller.
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
[QUOTE 1787608, member: 9609"]I was more thinking on the lines of; if there had never ever been any fossil fuels, would we have progressed much further than the bronze age, there's a limit to what we could have achieved with charcoal.
Humans have always been very resourceful and I am sure we would have progressed. But without that colossal inheritance of vast amounts of free energy in oil coal and gas I wonder if we would still be back in the 14th century.[/quote]
Yes, maybe. The 14th century, when they were building York Minster. Hardly swinging in trees and mudhuts...
Anyway, there's nothing wrong with a good mud hut. Warm in winter with a good fire, cool in summer and made of renewable materials.
Humans have always been very resourceful and I am sure we would have progressed. But without that colossal inheritance of vast amounts of free energy in oil coal and gas I wonder if we would still be back in the 14th century.[/quote]
Yes, maybe. The 14th century, when they were building York Minster. Hardly swinging in trees and mudhuts...
Anyway, there's nothing wrong with a good mud hut. Warm in winter with a good fire, cool in summer and made of renewable materials.
